Guide means for typewriter ribbons



April 19, 1949. BR MH LL 2,467,880

GUIDE MEANS FOR TYPEWRITER RIBBONS Filed Oct. 24, 1945 v 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 c U g n/2001110! By 5am A ril is, 1949.

c. w. BRUMHILL GUIDE MEANS FOR TYPEWRITER RIBBONS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 24, 1945 A ril 19, 1949. c. w. BRUMHILL 2,467,880

GUIDE MEANS FOR TYPEWRITER RIBBONS Filed Oc't. 24, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet s I Inventor Hy *7- Y April 19, 1949. c. w. BRUMHILL 80 GUIDE MEANS FOR TYPEWRITER RIBBONS Filed'Oct. 24, 1945 5 Sheets-Shet 4 CM Q ,Qf

April 1949. c. w. BRUMHILL 2,467,880

GUIDE MEANS FOR TYPEWRITER RIBBONS Filed Oct. 24, 1945 5 .Shets-Sheet 5 has.

50 PP P? PPPPPPPPP Patented Apr. 19, 1949 GUIDE" MEANS For: TYPEWRITER, RIBBONS Claude Wellington. Brumhill; Leicester, England, assi'gnor to The Imperial Typewriter Company Limited, Leicesten, England Application October 24, 194-5, SeriaLN'o; 624,159 III-'GIBMS Britain June 7; 1 945- 2 Claims. (CI. 19 7-17.0

This. invention. concerns typewriting and like machines of the kind: comm only known as: hectograph. machines) wherein the; type impressions: are produced in. reverse; on. the: back of amaster sheet, of paper or the like,. by feeding a ribbon at the typing station between. said sheet and a.

support surface such. as: a platen; This master sheet is subsequently employed; for the product-- tion of a multiplicity of copies. of they master sheet by a hectograplr duplicating process- In order that the duplicate copies of the mas.- ter sheet shall be clear and legible; it isyery essen-. tial that a completely new surfiac'e of transfer material, on the ribbon, be presented. to each type impressionmadeon the master sheet; It is there-, fore very important that the hectograph ribbonv be accurately directed at the. point of: printing, sov that no overlapping of impressions; can. occur.

It has previously been. proposed to employ a hectograph ribbon wide enough: to. admit of several longitudinal typing tracks or zones. The. di-ffioulty however, is to accurately direct the ribbonpast the printing point so: that no vertical.

misalignment of the said zones can take place..

This displacement of the. ribbon often occurs when the master sheet is being positioned in the machine for typing, and also when the; master sheet is moved in the action. of line-spacing. The sheet is gripped by the pressure of. both top and bottom feed rolls against the platen, and when line spacing, the ribbon tends, to be. carried out of its horizontal position by the adhesion of the platen to the master sheet-it. being understood that the ribbon is located lengthwise between the platen and the master sheet, with the hectograph coated side facing away from the platen.

To avoid the above difficulties, it has been previously proposed to strain or stretch; the ribbon along the whole length of the platen and thus maintain the ribbon sufficiently taut to prevent any vertical. deviation, from taking place. It has also been proposed that after any displacement which may have taken place. when line spacing, an extra tension be applied to the ribbon which would overcome and correct it to its previous alignment.

The present invention provides in or for a typewriter or like machine of the kind specified, a stationary ribbon guide at the typing station for engaging and positioning the ribbon at the back of the sheet. The invention further provides in a typewriting or like machine of the kind specifled wherein the ribbon extends substantially lengthwise of the platen, a stationary ribbon guide at the typing station for engaging the ribbon at the back of. the; sheet and; for positioning it against. displacement inthedirection of the paper feed. This. guide preferably has ribbon locatingmeans spaced apart in thedirection; of the length of the ribbon to either side at the type impact area. It is further preferred that the guide shall have ribbon locating means for engaging both longitudinal edgesof the ribbon.

The guide may be made to admit of a narrow ribbon capable of admitting one track of impressions, or it may be so constructed that a ribbon of thexwidth admitting a plurality of longitudinal tracks of impressions can be used. In this latter case, means are provided for adjusting the, guide, to present different areas, in the width of, the ribbon to.- thetype. Specifically, in the case of a machine equipped with a rotatable platen, thev guide may be adjustable circumferentially of theplaten. Meansmay be provided for retaining the guide in either selected one of a plurality of alternative positions.

According to an important subsidiary feature of, the invention there is. a support for the guide which. extends forwards and downwards.

The foregoing and other features of the invention set out in. the appended claims are incorporated in the construction which will now be described as an example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan of a typewriter;

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the platen and guide;

Figure 4 is a section on a larger scale on the line JJ in Fig. 3;

Figure 5 is a part section looking in the direction of arrow L in Fig. 4;

Figure 6. is a front view of a portion of the platen. and guide illustrating the removal of the guide and also illustrating two, positions of the adjustment;

Figure 7 shows a guide adapted to accommodate a single-track ribbon.

In the accompanying drawings the invention is illustrated as applied to a typewriter having a main body I with keyboard 2 including tabulating key 3, and a carriage indicated generally at 4 which traverses on guides 5 and includes platen 5, rack release lever 1 and a line space lever B. This machine has the usual paper-feed rollers 9 co-operating with the platen to feed master sheet [0 (Fig. 4) round the platen 6 and past the typing station TS at which the ordinary typing ribbon H is traversed in front of it to be struck by the type. heads k2,.

In addition this machine is equipped with means for feeding a hectograph paper ribbon l3 longitudinally in front of the platen 6 between the latter and the master sheet at the typing station TS. The coated face of this ribbon i3 is presented forward so that at each type impact the ribbon applies a character in reverse to the back of the master sheet.

It will be understood that in the line space movement of the platen 6 (i. e. anti-clockwise rotation Fig. 4) there is a tendency for the ribbon 13 to be displaced upwards. In order to prevent this, the ribbon l3 is engaged at the typing station TS by a stationary guide indicated generally by the reference M, which is located at the back of the master Sheet l0, between it and the platen. This guide comprises two thin arms l5 which are spaced apart at either side of the type impact area so that the ribbon [3 runs in front of them. Each arm has an upper lobe I50,

and a lower lobe l5?) which respectively overlap the top and bottom edges of the ribbon l3 and restrain it against edgewise displacement.

The guide is mounted on a support member l6 which, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, extends from the back of the machine body I, and curves forwards and downwards over the carriage 4 towards the typing station, the front part of this support [6 therefore being located behind the upper portion of the master sheet H] as shown in Fig. 4. The guide I4 is readily detachable from the support l6, being provided with headed pins I! which as illustrated in Fig. 6 engage in key hole slots I8 in the support.

The spacing between the upper and lower lobes a and l5b may, as shown in Fig. 7, only be sufficient to accommodate a narrow ribbon for a single track of characters. Alternatively they may be spaced to accommodate a wider ribbon capable of taking a plurality of tracks of characters as illustrated in Fig. 6 and in order to adjust the ribbon edgewise to permit the different tracks to be used (e. g. after the ribbon has been run once through the machine) the operative part of the guide is adjustable circumferentially of the platen. For this purpose the support 16 incorporates spaced side members l9, Fig. 5, having internal flanges I 9a curved around the platen surface. These flanges are engaged between the outer face of a curved sheet of metal 20 from which the guide arms l5 depend and a curved plate 2| attached to member 20. The assembly 2[!2l is therefore capable of sliding circumferentially of the platen 6 to adjust the ribbon position and this movement is effected by lever 22 projecting from the plate 2! and accessibly arranged above the top of the platen. Additionally a detent is provided for locating the guide in any selected one of its alternative positions. This detent comprises a spring 23 with a pip 23' for engaging in any one of a series of holes 24 in the plate 2|.

It is desirable to combine with the guide herein before described, a, thin anvil 25 (which forms the subject of co-pending U. S. patent application No. 624,160, now Patent No. 2,452,099, dated October 26, 1948) which is positioned at the typing station between the ribbon l3 and the surface of the platen 6 to take the typing impacts. This anvil consists of a thin sheet of waxed paper, Celluloid or equivalent material and is releasably positioned on the guide by headed pins 26.

The support l6 affords sufiicient room beneath it, at the back of the platen, to permit of the insertion of the master sheet I0.

The guide I4 may have ribbon-locating means We, 15b at one sideonly of the type-impact area.

The machine shown may be employed for normal typing by removing ribbon l3 and guide I4.

I claim:

1. In a typewriting machine for hectograph work, of the kind wherein type impressions are produced, at a typing station, in reverse on the back of a master sheet by feeding a ribbon horizontally along the face of a horizontally-traversing platen and between the latter and the sheet, the latter being fed under the platen from the back and up in front of it and the ribbon, the combination with the horizontal platen, ribbonfeeding means for feeding the ribbon horizontally along the face of it, and sheet-feeding means for feeding the sheet under the platen and up in front of it and the ribbon, of a stationary support extending down towards the typing station to have the sheet rise therefrom in front of it and affording room behind it for the sheet to be inserted, a stationary ribbon guide carried by said support behind the sheet, in the region of the typing station, said guide comprising means for preventing the ribbon from being dragged upwards by the rising sheet, a mounting on the support for adjustment of the guide circuferentially of the platen and for thereby presenting different areas in the width of the ribbon for use, and a manual adjustment means carried by the guide for shifting the guide on its mounting.

2. In a typewriting machine comprising a body, a carriage traversing horizontally thereon and incorporating a horizontal platen rotatable about its own axis, and type for operating at a typing station, the combination with hectograph ribbon feeding means, including ribbon-guiding means disposed on the carriage beyond each end of the platen, for feeding a hectograph ribbon horizontally along the front of the platen for the full length of the latter with an impression-producing face of the ribbon presented forwards away from the platen, and means for feeding a sheet downwards and forwards under the platen and up in front of it and the ribbon, whereby type impressions are obtained in reverse on the back of the sheet, of a stationary support rising from the body at the back of the carriage and extending forwards and downwards towards the typing station to have the sheet rise in front of it and affording room beneath it for the insertion of the sheet, and a stationary ribbon guide supported by said support at a location in the region of the typing station and at the back of the rising sheet which guide comprises means for sliding engagement by the ribbon as the latter is traversed and for preventing upward displacement of the ribbon by the rising sheet.

CLAUDE WELLINGTON BRUMHILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,461,599 Cossitt July 10, 1923 1,534,116 Hess Apr. 21, 1925 1,562,431 Ananson Nov. 24, 1925 2,044,072 Going June 16, 1936 2,103,734 Schmidt Dec. 28, 1937 2,278,009 Handley Mar. 31, 1942 

